And They All Lived Happily Ever After
by geezerinthecorner
Summary: The world has been saved and all seems well, but Isaac still bears emotional scars. Now finished.
1. On the Road

Disclaimer thing: I do not own Camelot, Golden Sun etc. etc.... Anyone who thinks some random 14-year old might is quite blatantly an idiot. (Actually, you never know. Managers seem to be getting younger all the time; I'm probably over the hill now.)  
  
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The brave companions were returning home triumphant. Evil had been vanquished, the world had been saved etc., they had rescued Jenna and been reconciled with her brother Felix and one and all were planning to head to Vale and live happily ever after. Jenna and Garet were spending every available moment together, Felix and Ivan were both trying to impress Sheba and Mia was occasionally caught staring in Isaac's direction. (much to her embarrassment) The whole mood was cheerful; optimistic and playful.  
  
Isaac, though... Isaac had changed. He had never been exactly talkative, but of late he had become even more silent and withdrawn. They were all worn from their long travels and constant battles, but Isaac seemed worse affected than anyone else. He was only 18, but these days looked more like he was going on 30. Despite this he was not lacking for looks in his rough way, though, and the stares Mia was throwing his way were understandable. Isaac was definitely not in a good way, however, and Mia was also worried - although none of the others seemed to have noticed. He was not eating properly, and had trouble sleeping.  
  
One night on this last leg of their journeys when she had gone to him to wake him for a turn on watch she had found him tossing and muttering in his sleep. She woke Garet instead, and covertly watched Isaac - all right, so she was a touch obsessed. A little while later he rose and expertly slipped past a somewhat less than fully awake Garet out into the night. She shadowed him at a cautious distance, and found him sitting on the edge of a cliff in the pale moonlight. He was weeping. He had always seemed so solid - and, recently, almost emotionless - and her first sense on seeing this was one of complete shock. She was horrified and fascinated by the spectacle, but could not work up the nerve to go out and talk to him.  
  
Mia could not have said how long she crouched there watching, but all of a sudden Isaac rose and began back in the direction of their campsite. He passed near to her hiding place on his way back, and what she saw of his face in the dim light was in a way almost frightening, as although the tears still ran freely down his cheeks his face was totally devoid of expression. He carried deep scars - quite possibly ever since his father's death - yet managed to hide them from the world. He was getting worse, though, she intuitively knew. She planned to talk to Garet at some point - he might not be the brightest person in the world but he knew Isaac better than anyone - but never quite managed to bring the subject up, and her memories of the night acquired an almost dreamlike quality.  
  
She would bring it up when they finally arrived in Vale, she decided, and tried to forget about it - although from then on she made a special effort to get him involved in conversations, to cheer him up and break him out of his shell of solitude. Mia realised, with a shock, that she had not heard him laugh in months - when she had first joined the group he had always been easygoing and quick to mirth. She honestly cared about him enough to try to help him with whatever his problem was, however, to try to see him through the dark patch. Somehow.  
  
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More to come whenever the hell I get round to it - could be tomorrow, could be weeks. Who knows? My first ever fic, plz R&R etc. 


	2. Bad News

Disclaimer: (do I really have to do this?) I do not own Camelot, Golden Sun or any of the characters, places etc. in it.  
  
Dragon Empress, Jupiter Girl: Yeah, it was in paragraphs in word but they disappeared. I've put spaces between them this time, so hopefully a little better.  
  
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When the party approached Vale in the late afternoon, the rich golden glow of the slowly fading sun behind them, they all felt a deep feeling of peace and something more..*homecoming* - even those who had never been to Vale before - all but one. One who knew what news awaited them.  
  
They arrived in the village square to find it largely empty, with only a few people who looked up curiously at the approach of travellers, who were a rare sight in Vale. As they made their way across the square the village carpenter, who knew Isaac, Garet, Felix and Jenna quite well, looked up from what he was doing and froze for several moments, his jaw hanging wide. His face then broke into an expression of pure joy - followed by a completely distraught look in Isaac's direction.  
  
"Oh Gods," he said breathlessly "Isaac, your mother... she...." His voice trailed off.  
  
"Is dead?" Isaac asked, voice entirely devoid of emotion - though his eyes bore mute testimony to his pain.  
  
The carpenter, an old friend of the family, nodded sadly. "Y-You knew?"  
  
Isaac heaved a deep sigh and his shoulders slumped. He did not seem so miserable as resigned, and utterly exhausted in body and soul. "When we came back to get the djinn," he said - still somehow keeping his emotions in check, and all present knew how much it must be costing him "I sensed it. I may not be half as good a healer as Mia" He nodded in her direction "But I know her better than anyone. She was dying, long past the point where anyone could do anything. I couldn't say anything to anyone, though. To say it would make it real and I.... couldn't face that." Isaac's voice finally cracked on these last words.  
  
"She has been buried in the town cemetery?" He inquired of the carpenter, only the faintest of tremors evident in his voice and countenance. The carpenter nodded "Beside Kyle." Isaac nodded and set off in the direction of the graveyard without another word. His travelling companions looked at one another, their previous mood of joy and contentment completely vanished.  
  
Several hours later, after Mia, Ivan and Felix had got rooms at the local inn, (Jenna had lived with Garet's family since her parents' death, but Felix had also been presumed dead on that fateful day) they all sat around in a secluded clearing in the hills. It was a beautiful place, but they were none of them in a mood for beauty as their talk inevitably centred on the news that had just been given Isaac. Finally, as darkness crept in to end the long summer's evening they all decided to check on Isaac.  
  
When they found Isaac he was simply sitting, leaning against another headstone, looking silently at his parents' graves. There was still no sign of tears or that he had cried despite the fact that they all knew he had been very close to his parents - he just looked broken deep inside. He seemed not to understand what was going on around him, and actually had to be lead away and to his house by the hand and put to bed. Although no-one said a word except trying to coax him along, it was obvious that they were all shocked to the core by what had become of their solid and unshakeable leader, the man who had lead them across half the world and through every peril reduced to this.  
  
After a night in which no-one really got much rest Isaac woke them all up and assembled them on a beautiful hillside in Vale in the early-morning mist - an idyllic place, but they were all dreading whatever he had to say.  
  
"I am leaving." He announced bluntly, voice again possessing that cold emotionless edge it had often had recently. "There are too many memories here now anyway, even if I could settle at all. I would see ghosts round every corner. But I do not think I could settle anywhere any more. I've spent too long on the move and... I can't actually handle just living in one place. But I know that is not true of the rest of you, and I'm not sticking around to curse your happiness. I'll drop by from time to time, I'm not disappearing off the face of the earth, but I won't stay anywhere long. You decide what to do with the house and things - anything I'm not taking with me. Goodbye, and thank-you for everything."  
  
They were all still too shocked and dumbfounded by this from a man who had not even seemed aware of his surroundings last night to offer any real objection, and simply stood there as he took up a pack which he had readied and set at the edge of the clearing, a forlorn figure wrapped in a tattered and fading cloak trudging down a dusty road. He did not turn back. 


	3. Down the Years

Disclaimer: (sigh) I do not own Golden Sun or any of its characters, places, ideas, or anything else there might be in it.  
  
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The seasons slowly turned, the same as they always had down the years, and the close-knit group tried to recover from the loss of their leader. They all stayed in Vale except Mia, drawing even closer in the gap left by Isaac's leaving. Mia spent the summer in Imil in the north then came south with the birds in winter and stayed in Vale.  
  
At first they were all looking over their shoulders all the time for Isaac's reappearance, but as the weeks turned into months they slowly realised that he was not going to get over his parents' deaths and come back. He did come back to his hometown once in a while, as he had promised he would, but never stayed more than a couple of days.  
  
He chatted with his friends about old times, but never really said much about what he had been up to more recently apart from the odd bit of news from places all around the world. It was almost as if he let the old Isaac come out for them - but they could all see that he was in many ways a different person now. All questions about his current activities met evasions or very vague answers.  
  
Another thing they noticed was that he looked ever more worn every time they saw him. He was lean to the point of anorexic and it was obvious that he did not get enough rest - but he wasn't around long enough for them to try to help.  
  
Jenna married Garet a couple of years after the return to Vale, Isaac missing the occasion by only a couple of days. He claimed to have known when it was on but the ship he was on had been delayed by bad weather, which was why he was late. They all wanted to know how he could have known, since there had been no fixed date by the last time he had visited - he claimed that a Jupiter adept they did not know told him, but refused point- blank to say more on the subject.  
  
On a visit when Isaac was 21, Mia noticed something that shocked them all deeply. He looked continually exhausted to the point of collapse, even more so than usual, and was very preoccupied all the time, but then she noticed the tiniest streaks of grey here and there in his hair. They were all a bit stunned by this, except Isaac who said that although he had not known it did not surprise him, and pleaded with him to stay and rest at least for a little while. He refused, though, saying the same as he had on the day he left: that he simply could not handle being in one place for long, and that there was nowhere he could feel at peace.  
  
After he was 22 he did not visit for a long while and they began to fret more and more. No-one saw him for five long years and it was finally decided that he must have died (though all secretly held onto hopes of his survival) as travelling alone through the wilderness was not the safest of occupations. There were less monsters around now than there had been in the time of the quest for the lighthouses, but there were still plenty and there were always a few brigands and bandits lurking in the bushes. Isaac was a colossally powerful wielder of psyenergy and one of the most skilled people with weapons on the whole planet, but if some archer got lucky and caught him in the heart or throat he would be as dead as any other man.  
  
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That chapter was a bit crappy, but it's hard because it's not what is happening at any one time. A massive thanks to everyone who reviewed, it really helps. 


	4. Sudden Arrival

Disclaimer: (urge to kill rising) I do NOT own Golden Sun etc. etc. (getting very bored of saying this)  
  
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Mia was sitting in her house in Imil one evening, idly watching the snow fall from her snug and comfortable front room. She went south to Vale in the winter, but it snowed all year round in the area of Imil. Her house was also her place of work, though far fewer people needed her services as a healer with Hermes' water flowing in the Mercury lighthouse just beyond the town, and the door was rarely locked. Someone burst through it now, collapsing against a chest of drawers and using it to hold himself up. Mia spun around in surprise and time seemed to slow for a moment as the snow and wind from outside howled in through the wide open door. She stared into the eyes of the man who had just reappeared after five years, meeting eyes she had never thought to see again. His hair had gone entirely grey - at the age of 27!?! - but still she would know him anywhere after any length of time.  
  
"I-Isaac?" she asked tremulously. She then noticed why he had collapsed against the chest of drawers - his tattered traveller's garb was ripped in several places and soaked through with blood.  
  
"Mia. Sorry to impose on you after all this time, but I'm rather stuck for other options." His voice, even though she could see that it hurt him just to speak, still had its dispassionate edge, but there was some deep irony and bitterness hidden within it. He passed out, slowly toppling onto her rugs.  
  
Mia snapped out of her trance, dashing over to him to check that he was not dead and look at his wounds. She realised that although he was alive he had no real right to be - he had wounds on his chest, thigh, both arms and a nasty cut on his forehead. It was also obvious that he had travelled a fair distance bearing these wounds. A quick magical scan showed her why he had not used his own healing magics - he was utterly drained of psyenergy after whatever fight he had acquired the wounds in.  
  
"Gods above!" she exclaimed, quickly summoning her powerful elemental magic to heal him. Even for a healer as skilled and powerful as her, though, wounds like this would not go away quickly - if they did at all, she thought as a new wave of fear rushed through her. He had lost a lot of blood. She quickly got him into her bed to work on him.  
  
She worked to heal Isaac all through the night, applying poultices and bandages as well as her healing enchantments, and finally fell asleep in a chair next to the bed facing him as the grey light of dawn began to creep in through the window.  
  
Mia was awoken by Isaac's hand reaching out to grab her sometime in the early morning. Bleary, it took her a moment to remember what she was doing there. A slight smile creased Isaac's face as he said  
  
"I know I need to rest, believe me, but I need to tell you something. Two things in fact." The smile, faint as it had been, was gone and the travelling warrior looked grimmer than ever "Garet, Jenna, Ivan and Felix are all dead. You are in a great deal of danger." 


	5. Isaac Talks

Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. Golden. Sun....So. There.  
  
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Isaac said nothing more, collapsing back into a deep sleep immediately. Mia knew that he had somehow forced himself to wake up to warn her, because she was an experienced healer and knew that no-one that badly injured could hope to wake up so quickly after collapsing. His force of will was able to break almost any rules of nature though, it seemed.  
  
She had somehow sensed the truth behind his words, and knew deep in her soul that all her friends of many years were dead. Despite this, however, she could not truly accept the information She was still sitting there several hours later staring off into nothing and trying to sort out the idea that they could all really be gone. And then, of course, there was the warning of danger to her. She presumed that the two were linked, the deaths of her friends and the danger to her - and quite possibly Isaac's injuries as well. He had not had time to tell her much at all, really.  
  
With that her mind flicked back to Isaac and she changed the bandages as well as conjuring a few healing enchantments of her element. Resting, his own psyenergy was recharging, and when he awoke he would be able to add his own spells to hers. He really was far too thin to be healthy, although well-muscled still... Actually, he looked quite good in a way, worn down and wounded or no. She very quickly shooed her minds away from that thought. She had had a crush on him years ago, but had never seen any sign of returned affections and had forgotten about it long before now. She told herself this firmly, she was only looking at him because he was her *patient*.  
  
Mia went through the next couple of days in a kind of daze, still trying to come to terms with the loss of her friends - she often didn't see them for half the year when she was in Imil, but they were a very close- knit group and she truly felt that her world was coming apart. She tended to Isaac and fed him as he had not yet awoken again, spending large amounts of time in the chair just watching him sleep and thinking. She also found a secluded spot just outside the town and began to practice her more powerful battle psyenergy again. It was as much something tiring that demanded concentration, taking her mind off her losses, as heeding Isaac's warnings of danger. She did not like to leave him alone for too long, though, just in case something happened to him.  
  
On the fourth day after his arrival he awoke again, and Mia came back from one of her short but intensive training sessions to find Isaac sitting in the snow with his back against the wall of the house, drawing power up from the earth to aid his recovery. When she recovered from her surprise at seeing him up she marched over to him.  
  
"Couldn't you do that in bed?" she asked with a fake resigned annoyance, which could not hide her joy at seeing him up and about. He flashed her a smile, actually looking more cheerful than he mostly had in the years before he disappeared altogether - maybe the deaths of his friends and being nearly killed himself loosened him up. She ignored that thought, happy in spite of everything just to see him happy.  
  
"It's better to be able to get at the earth. And I want to try moving around a bit. How long was I asleep for? It must have been a couple of days." He answered, a touch flippantly.  
  
"You were gone for three days," Mia said a little more seriously, hoping to convince him to get back into bed - although she knew that she had little chance with someone as stubborn as Isaac. His face clouded and his mouth twisted wryly.  
  
"Three days. I'm getting old." He muttered to himself. Then he straightened, a touch stiffly but with far more ease than she expected from someone who had been so badly injured, and looked her in the eye.  
  
"You look tired. Come inside, there's some things I need to tell you." He trudged through the snow and into the house; she followed quietly. He was a far cry from the young man she had first met all these years ago, but he actually seemed more...human than he had since his mother's death.  
  
When they had both got inside and sat down, Isaac sighed. "I suppose I ought to tell you what I've been doing for all these years. The basics you already know - wandering around the world, never staying long in one place, doing the odd job for a bit of coin and so on. And, perhaps most importantly, getting stronger - you know how much more powerful we were at the end of our quest than the beginning. But the more I saw of the world, the more bitterness, petty hatred, corruption and general viciousness I saw in the human race. There's a lot." His voice had grown angrier over the last few words, and Mia was a little off-balance from his tirade against the whole world. He continued.  
  
"That is the lesson - there is more hatred and bitterness in the human soul than anything else. It's a lesson very few ever truly learn - intellectually understanding it is one thing, truly accepting it deep down inside you quite another. There are very few who can handle that. But the more I saw, the more I knew it was true - and it taints every view I have on everything. I look at a happy couple and know that they will argue and weep and split up, I look at an innocent child and know that they will not remain innocent for long." His voice was growing more bitter by the word, and Mia could tell that he truly believed this - no wonder he seemed so worn at such a young age.  
  
"That is beside the point, really. That's just my personal rant at the world, but I think I've wanted to say it to someone - anyone willing to listen - for a long time. What is more relevant to the current situation is a Lady I met recently. I largely accidentally interrupted an assassination attempt on a wealthy noble of Tolbi - don't look at me like that, the man had done the same to others and neither side exactly had the moral high ground - but the woman hired to slay him is not tolerant of unexpected interruptions, and she decided to go after me - once she had killed the noble through his increased security.  
  
She got to Vale before I could when I realised what she was planning. Their ends were not pleasant, their corpses showed that much. The other people of Vale were horrified, of course, but I hoped you hadn't been reached yet up here in Imil and left right away. I think she might have stayed around Vale a bit to watch them grieve." His voice had become dispassionate again as he talked of what happened to their friends. Mia finally interrupted.  
  
"Stayed to watch them grieve!" she exclaimed "who the hell is this woman?"  
  
"Who is she?" Isaac returned with a twisted little smile "A mercury adept of massive power, and, as I already stated, an assassin. She is named Amarre. I know something of her past - she has quite a reputation - there is an enormous amount of hate in her for everyone and everything. She was enslaved, beaten and raped as a child. She ran away from the brothel she had been working at for three years at 8, and survived on her own, becoming a feared assassin and learning to use her powers. If I were to guess why she is so heartless, I would say that the world has not treated her well - I doubt anyone has ever showed her any great kindness in her entire life - so she hates the entire world. A little demented, but what do you expect growing up in circumstances like that? It was some hirelings of hers that ambushed me in Bilibin cave, that's where I took these injuries. You look a touch stunned. I don't blame you. But she's a point in case about the misery of the world."  
  
These final words sparked something off in Mia, and she rose and walked over to him. "There may be suffering in the world. But it can be overcome. Anything can be overcome. You just need to have *hope*." With this she stalked out of the door, slamming it, desperately trying to digest the information he had given her.  
  
Isaac, still sitting in his chair, sighed. "It's been a very long time since I had any hope of anything." He got up and began expertly shadowing Mia as she walked. Who knew when Amarre might appear? In spite of everything, he did not intend to lose the last person he cared for in the whole world.  
  
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Okay.... getting a little weird. Oh well. This is changed from my original chapter 5 which was posted briefly as that was just too weird and incomprehensible. 


	6. Hope

Disclaimer: (I feel a sudden urge to hit something. Hard) Blah I don't own Golden Sun etc. blah blah  
  
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After he had trailed her for a few minutes, Isaac saw Mia sit down on a fallen stone in some old ruins just outside the town. She took her head in her hands and her whole body was wracked by silent sobs, the shock and misery of the last few days all hitting her at once. His intention had been to simply follow her at a distance and see that no harm came to her, but seeing the confident and capable woman, his friend for so long - even if he had not seen her for years - reduced to such a state was something he really could not bear.  
  
Mia looked up as she heard someone approach, and her mouth opened in surprise as she saw Isaac. She had not expected him to follow - this new Isaac, for all he did seem to still care about her, seemed somehow beyond ordinary human emotions - and had been feeling utterly alone. Neither said a word as he came up to her, then sighed and sat down on the stone beside her.  
  
The tears were still running openly down her cheeks, and he put his arm around her shoulders with a noticeable trace of self-consciousness - it had been a long time since he had had any such contact with other people. He half-expected her to push him away, but she surprised him by turning into his chest and crying her heart out. Isaac felt massively awkward, but ran his fingers through her hair. He felt that in some way she was grieving for both of them, that her tears were somehow also his and she was weeping with the grief he would not allow himself to show.  
  
When she finally began to stop Mia had managed to get Isaac's shirt really quite impressively wet, and she was still clinging to him. They simply sat there for a while, her head resting on his shoulder. He rose and they walked slowly back into the house as the sun glowed overhead - though little warmth ever seemed to penetrate as far as Imil - Mia still holding onto his arm.  
  
Once they got inside Mia began to prepare lunch, without saying a word. Isaac simply sat quietly in a chair looking out of the window, apparently deep in thought.  
  
"I-Isaac" called Mia, slightly tentatively "lunch is ready."  
  
"Why do you sound so scared?" Isaac looked more lively and cheerful than he had in years, and she thought how right a smile looked on his face. "Am I not going to like it?"  
  
"Keep talking like that and you won't be getting any!" Mia replied and they both laughed.  
  
Later that day, as the evening came on, Isaac and Mia were sitting together on the sofa, (do they have sofas in Golden Sun? They do now!) talking of all the happy memories they shared of their friends and all the journeys they had had together. Both fell silent after a while, though, as thoughts of their friends inevitably lead to thoughts of their recent demise.  
  
Isaac was leaning against Mia for warmth as the night came in and the fire died down, neither of them willing to get up from the comfortable seat to add more wood, and she realised she was enjoying this a little too much. Her cheeks coloured with this thought and Isaac, sensing something, looked up at her. She caught a glimpse of his deep blue eyes then, seized by impulse, kissed him on the lips.  
  
A moment later she thought to pull away, heart pounding and horribly embarrassed, but he did not seem to want to let her. The single kiss went on for quite some time, and when they finally broke apart their eyes met again.  
  
"Hope." Mia whispered. That was all either said and they stayed there until they fell asleep, his head resting on her shoulder. 


	7. The End

Disclaimer: In case you hadn't guessed, I don't own Golden Sun. If you hadn't guessed, you're an idiot.  
  
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The next morning, Mia was woken by Isaac's gentle shake. His expression showed a kind of deep sorrow, although he seemed far more at peace with the world than he had of late - lacking the bitterness which had in ways been the core of his being. Mia blinked her beautiful blue eyes, taking a moment to wake up fully.  
  
"She is here." Isaac's eyes had gone distant, and she sensed probing psyenergy emanating from him.  
  
"Wha.who..oh, your assassin friend." She realised who he must mean. Isaac's eyes focused again as his psyenergy dissipated.  
  
"She waits atop mercury lighthouse. If nothing is done, she will strike at Imil with the power she can wield there. I know that she has twisted the healing spells of mercury clan to make ones that cause plague and disease. So she must be stopped." Mia's eyes flashed at the thought of the ancient spells of her clan being perverted so.  
  
"No-one else in the town could do all that much against a truly powerful adept. I suppose that makes it up to us." She wanted to get her hands on the one who had killed all her old friends.  
  
Isaac's resolute expression faltered. "No, Mia..." Independent and capable, this achieved no more than annoying her.  
  
"You plan to confront a mercury adept atop *mercury lighthouse* and you won't take any help you can get? Don't be stupid."  
  
"I..you're all I've got left. I couldn't..handle..." She softened as she saw his genuine concern.  
  
"Look, I'm a mercury adept too. I'll be resistant to her attacks." Mia held up her hand as Isaac began another complaint. "I know that works both ways, but I can still heal and support you. Just taking hits would be of use." She did not intend to be left behind.  
  
"I should try to stop you," his shoulders sagged "but I just can't bring myself to." He looked so defeated just standing there that she walked over to him and hugged him. After a moment he returned her embrace.  
  
"Hope." She said again.  
  
They both began getting ready for the imminent battle. Isaac picked up his enchanted sword and armour from beside the bed where he had stayed while injured (Mia stayed in the spare room in the loft) and readied his collection of small enchanted items and healing potions. Mia's old equipment was kept in a magically warded chest in a corner of the house. She had rarely had cause to use it in recent times, but kept in practice with the magical sceptre she used as a weapon. She also donned robes imbued with a number of protective sorceries, which also boasted many pockets for her supply of minor curative magical items.  
  
The lighthouse was only an hour's walk from Imil - they told no-one where they were going. Since Megan and Justin's tragic drowning years earlier Mia seemed to have no really close friends in Imil. Mia opened the enchanted portal with her ply spell, and the two entered mercury lighthouse. The monsters were long gone, but it was an eerie journey through the halls and corridors of mercury lighthouse.  
  
When the pair finally came up the magical lift to the lighthouse aerie they found the one they had come for sitting casually on the steps. Mia did not know what she had expected, but Isaac's description of her evil deeds she had had some half-formed notion of some monstrous visage. Amarre was very tall and dressed like a soldier in heavy chainmail and carried a hand-and-a-half sword, useable with either one hand or two, in a sheath slung across her back. Her face was striking, attractive in its way if not beautiful with shoulder-length dark brown hair bearing only the faintest traces of grey swept well out of the way of her face. Her age was impossible to guess at from her weathered face; she seemed old as the hills but Mia suspected she was of a not dissimilar age to her and Isaac. Amarre stood and faced them as they approached, and from only a few metres away Mia caught a glimpse of her eyes - cold as stone and utterly mad. Only there did Mia catch a glimpse of the total hatred Isaac had described.  
  
Amarre did not waste time with words, stepping straight into the attack with a swirling blizzard of ice that drove both Isaac and Mia back several steps. Mia retaliated with a hail of icy needles and Isaac with a spire of stone, and battle was joined. Given that all three were massively powerful adepts with the power to heal themselves, the battle was going to go on for a while - and so it did. Waves of sorcery flared back and forth, wearing down all three combatants. Powerful though she was, Mia soon realised that Isaac and Amarre were both mightier than she. She suspected that the two were in fact very evenly matched under normal circumstances, but atop mercury lighthouse Amarre just kept rolling out waves of ice and jets of water to smash into them, disregarding all but the mightiest of Mia's assaults. Isaac's repertoire had expanded considerably since she had last fought alongside him, though, and between them they often seemed to be pushing the assassin back. Her power was constantly recharged by the lighthouse beacon, though, making it nigh-on impossible to wear her down.  
  
Finally there came a lull in the sorcerous storm that had raged around the lighthouse aerie for over half an hour as both sides tried to regather their energies for another assault. With a shocking suddenness in the still atmosphere Amarre's hand moved and a dagger flew through the air to strike Mia's throat before the blue-haired adept could begin to react. Both Isaac and Amarre had near-superhuman speed and reactions, but Mia - skilled though she was - simply could not handle movement that fast. It would have been impossible through the conflagration of sorcery before, but now it was child's play for the assassin to bury a dagger in Mia's throat. She was a powerful healer, but the dagger's aim was perfect and there were some things that could not be changed. Her last sight was of Isaac's horrified face as the world faded away.  
  
Seeing Isaac watch his companion die, Amarre believed that finishing him would not be much harder. Worn and grey, old before his time, the venus adept looked like he had no spirit or fight left in him. Then his head snapped up to face her suddenly, and the smile on his face - along with the total insanity in his eyes - drove even the formidable assassin back a pace. Isaac's face then assumed a predatory cast and he drew his sword, striking at her with lightning speed. Amarre only just got her own blade out in time to parry, and he was pushing her back across the aerie towards the precipice and the long drop below.  
  
This was impossible! They had exchanged blows briefly when he had interrupted her assassination, and she knew that they were very evenly matched - yet he was striking with impossible strength and speed, far beyond anything she could ever hope to match. Then she realised what empowered him - she had, right then and there in front of him, destroyed the last thing he cared for in the whole world and now he was almost beyond the world, beyond the rules of nature - and there was not a force in the whole world that could save her. She was doomed. No-one would ever say that she gave up or tried to flee though. Amarre fought to the last - she had never given quarter and never expected it. She made not a sound as Isaac's blade finally slipped through her guard and went through her chainmail with casual ease to rip her chest open, nor as the second stroke cleanly severed her head.  
  
Even as the assassin's body collapsed to the ground, Isaac turned away and clinically checked over Mia's body, confirming that there was no hope. He removed his enchanted armour, dropped his old gaia blade casually to the floor, went to the edge of the lighthouse and jumped. Isaac never made a sound either.  
  
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Heh. That was cheerful. Please everyone review and tell me what you think. 


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